EDUCAUSE Cybersecurity and Privacy Professionals Conference

From April 28–30, we’ll be onsite at the EDUCAUSE Cybersecurity and Privacy Professionals Conference in Anaheim—joining higher education security leaders for three days of discussion, research, and practical insight into the realities shaping cyber defense across higher education institutions today.

This year, we’re not just attending—we’re contributing to the conversation with two breakout sessions focused on higher education cyber risk and a new model for university–industry collaboration in cybersecurity.

If you’ll be there, we’d love the chance to connect.

Hear Our Research

From Exposure to Exploitation: Measuring Cyber Risk Dynamics in Higher Education

Wednesday, April 29 | 4:00–4:45 PM

Our ongoing research of the cyberthreat intelligence (CTI) ecosystem is one of the most comprehensive analyses of accessible global CTI data from over 50 providers spanning 2.5 years. In 2025, these providers produced over 2 trillion threat contexts. These described threat actors, their tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs), and related indicators of compromise (IOCs), offering an incredible view into the breadth of threat vectors of attackers as well as threat exposes of defending organizations.

We will focus this CTI lens on the education sector to reveal sobering statistics of cyberthreat risk for institutions of higher learning: 100% of the campus networks of the top 50 U.S. universities exhibit breach activity. Our analysis will include a breakdown of CTI into 10 supercategories, from malware and phishing to defensive evasion and attempted 0-day execution attributed to observed malicious activity originating from or tunneling through campus networks.

We will examine risk-weighted vulnerabilities of exposed and breached network assets and the clustering of universities into risk groups based on observed threat intelligence. We will report on patterns in “shadow infrastructure” that have been commandeered for specific malicious purposes, as well as on a time-series analysis of the “weaponization lag” and “remediation lag” of such breaches. These insights can be a leap toward an improved, proactive cyber defense for university organizations.

Presenters:
Dave Ahn — Chief Architect & VP Intelligence, Centripetal
Errin Fulp — Professor of Computer Science, Wake Forest University
 

Redefining the University-Industry Partnership to Innovate in Cybersecurity Research and Education

Thursday, April 30 | 1:30–2:15 PM

The cybersecurity skills gap has been headlining the news for years. Universities have added cybersecurity degrees and programs in response to high industry and student demand. Yet, only 25% of cybersecurity graduates feel prepared for their jobs, and 60% of hiring managers report that recent graduates lack practical skills to be effective. 

This session explores a model that goes beyond traditional academic–industry partnerships or temporary research leaves: embedding a full-time university faculty member within a company’s cybersecurity team while they continue their academic role, integrating responsibilities across both organizations. Unlike a standard leave of absence, this ongoing, dual-role engagement creates a continuous, bidirectional exchange enabling real-time feedback loops between curriculum, research, and operational needs. This approach also reimagines student internship programs and degree theses to enable research on vast databases of cyberthreat data normally inaccessible in academia to effect positive, real-world outcomes. The result is more relevant academic programs and deeper, practice-informed research with tangible student and industry impact. 

We’ll examine the gaps between academic mastery and industry readiness, discuss management of intellectual property, walk through a case study of a successful embedded partnership, and show how collaboration at this level can reshape curriculum, research, and workforce preparation.

Presenters:
Dave Ahn — Chief Architect & VP Intelligence, Centripetal
Errin Fulp — Professor of Computer Science, Wake Forest University
 

Let’s Connect in Anaheim

If you’re navigating the realities of securing a university environment—balancing openness with risk, managing growing attack surfaces, or trying to reduce operational strain—let’s talk.

We’ll be at Table #7 throughout the conference.

Most threats hitting university networks today aren’t new—they’re already known. They just weren’t stopped early enough. We’re actively working with institutions to reduce exposure, shrink attack surfaces, and change how threats are handled before they become incidents.

If you’re trying to make that shift, schedule time with us in Anaheim—or stop by the table.